Nguyen Xuan Son: The referee was wrong, the ball did not touch his hand

" That was the wrong decision. I don't think it was a handball. However, I respect the referee's decision. Anyway, today the Vietnamese team still won ," striker Nguyen Xuan Son said in an interview after the match.

In the 83rd minute, controversy broke out when Nguyen Xuan Son's masterpiece was disallowed. After 5 minutes of consulting VAR and reviewing the video, the referee determined that the ball had touched the Vietnamese striker's hand. Before that, Xuan Son had an impressive press and an unstoppable shot.

The striker born in 1997 reacted strongly to the main referee Kim Woo-sung. Coach Kim Sang-sik also received a yellow card.

Xuan Son's goal was denied.

Fortunately, the Vietnamese team then scored 2 goals in just 5 minutes of extra time. In the 5th minute of extra time, a Singapore defender used his hand to block the ball in the penalty area. This was the situation where Xuan Son created a lot of pressure, forcing the opponent to make a mistake.

Tien Linh calmly kicked the penalty to open the score. Before the end of the match, from Hoang Duc's corner kick, Xuan Son himself swooped in and scored from close range, sealing a 2-0 victory for Vietnam.

Similar to the match against the Philippines on artificial turf, the Vietnamese team played cautiously and prioritized solidity. Singapore had 67% ball possession but the home team did not create any dangerous attacks in the first half.

The number of shots of the Vietnamese team was not more than that of the opponent. Nguyen Xuan Son had many difficulties when being closely marked. The naturalized striker of Brazilian origin showed poor adaptability on the uneven pitch when he often made mistakes in handling the ball.

Xuan Son said: " The Singapore team is a collective with many very fast and strong players, but we controlled the match. We did everything we could. This is an important victory. I am very happy, now it is time to return to Vietnam. Let's go forward to win the championship ."